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Rant

Chuck Palahniuk, the author of the New York Times best-sellers Fight Club and Lullaby, is known for his edgy novels, and Rant is no exception. Palahniuk presents this fictional biography of Buster "Rant" Casey in a series of vignettes told by the people who knew him best. As intricate as a spider web, Rant succeeds in recounting the story of one man's life only through the eyes of others. But the question remains, "Who was Rant Casey?"

Damned

“Are you there, Satan? It’s me, Madison,” declares the whip-tongued 13-year-old narrator of Damned, Chuck Palahniuk’s subversive new work of fiction. The daughter of a narcissistic film star and a billionaire, Madison is abandoned at her Swiss boarding school over Christmas, while her parents are off touting their new projects and adopting more orphans. She dies over the holiday of a marijuana overdose—and the next thing she knows, she’s in Hell.

Survivor

Tender Branson, the last surviving member of the so-called Creedish Death Cult, is dictating his life story into the flight recorder of Flight 2039, cruising on autopilot at 39,000 feet somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. He is all alone in the airplane, which will crash shortly into the vast Australian outback. But before it does, he will unfold the tale of his journey from an obedient Creedish child and humble domestic servant to an ultra-buffed, steroid-and-collagen-packed media messiah.

Beautiful You

From the author of Fight Club, the classic portrait of the damaged contemporary male psyche, now comes this novel about the apocalyptic marketing possibilities of female pleasure. Beautiful You is Palahniuk's much-anticipated satire of the emerging erotic thriller genre, a mash-up of mommy porn and chick lit à la Sex and the City, and fantasy lit à la Clan of the Cave Bear. Imagine if Ira Levin had a baby with Jean Auel.

Doomed

Madison Spencer, the liveliest, snarkiest dead girl in the universe, continues the adventures in the afterlife begun in Damned. Having somewhat reluctantly escaped from hell, she now wanders the purgatory that is Earth as a ghostly spirit, seeking her do-gooding celebrity parents, fighting the malign control of Satan, recounting the disgracefully funny encounter with her grandfather in a fetid highway rest stop in upstate New York when she - oh, never mind - and climaxing in a rendezvous with destiny on the new, totally plastic continent in the Pacific called, not at all accidentally, Madlantis.

Lullaby

New York Times best-selling author of Fight Club, which was adapted into a major motion picture, Chuck Palahniuk offers a haunting tale. Winner of the Northwest Booksellers Association Award, Palahniuk is one of the rare literary geniuses who has been able to bridge the gap between a cult following and commercial success.

Diary: A Novel

Diary takes the form of a "coma diary" kept by one Misty Tracy Wilmot as her husband lies senseless in a hospital after a suicide attempt. It is a dark, hilarious, and poignant act of storytelling from America's favorite, most inventive nihilist.

Haunted

Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk is a novel made up of stories: 23 of them, to be precise. Twenty-three of the most horrifying, hilarious, mind-blowing, stomach-churning tales you'll ever encounter, sometimes all at once. They are told by people who have answered an ad headlined "Writers' Retreat: Abandon Your Life for Three Months", and who are led to believe that here they will leave behind all the distractions of "real life" that are keeping them from creating the masterpiece that is in them.

Invisible Monsters

She's a fashion model who has everything: a boyfriend, a career, a loyal best friend. But when a sudden freeway "accident" leaves her disfigured and incapable of speech, she is transformed from the beautiful center of attention to an invisible monster, so hideous that no one will acknowledge she exists.

Make Something Up: Stories You Can't Unread

For years Chuck Palahniuk has reserved his best storytelling for his readings, often choosing to read a new short story instead of whatever novel he is supposed to be promoting. Make Something Up compiles these previously unpublished tales for the very first time, plus the Byliner social media insta-classic "Phoenix" and Palahniuk's most notable pieces from Playboy.

Invisible Monsters Remix

Injected with new material, Invisible Monsters Remix fulfills Chuck Palahniuk’s original vision for his 1999 novel, moving a daring satire on beauty and the fashion industry even further into a wildly unique listening experience. Palahniuk’s fashion-model protagonist has it all - boyfriend, career, loyal best friend - until an accident destroys her face, her ability to speak, and her self-esteem. Enter Brandy Alexander, queen supreme, one operation away from becoming a bonafide woman.

Fight Club

When a listless office employee (the narrator) meets Tyler Durden, his life begins to take on a strange new dimension. Together they form Fight Club - a secretive underground group sponsoring bloody bare-knuckle boxing matches staged in seedy alleys, vacant warehouses, and dive-bar basements. Fight Club lets ordinary men vent their suppressed rage, and it quickly develops a fanatical following.

Tell-All

Hazie Coogan has for decades tended to the outsized needs of Katherine “Miss Kathie” Kenton, a larger-than-life star who has survived multiple marriages, career comebacks, cosmetic surgeries, and emotional dramas. But danger lurks with the arrival of a gentleman caller named Webster Carlton Westward III, who worms his way into Miss Kathie’s heart and boudoir.

A Perfect Union of Contrary Things

This is the official authorized biography of musician and vintner Maynard James Keenan, the enigmatic vocalist for Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer. Co-author Sarah Jensen's 30-year friendship with Keenan gives her unique insight into his history and career trajectory. The book traces Keenan's journey from his Midwest childhood to his years in the army to his time in art school, from his stint at a Boston pet shop to his place in the international spotlight and his influence on contemporary music and regional winemaking.

Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories (Unabridged Selections)

Chuck Palahniuk's world has always been, well, different from yours and mine. These pieces from Stranger Than Fiction, his first nonfiction collection, prove just how different, in ways both highly entertaining and deeply unsettling.

The Girl Next Door

Suburbia. Shady, tree-lined streets; well-tended lawns; and cozy homes. A nice, quiet place to grow up. Unless you are teenage Meg or her crippled sister, Susan. On a dead-end street, in the dark, damp basement of the Chandler house, Meg and Susan are left captive to the savage whims and rages of a distant aunt who is rapidly descending into madness. It is a madness that infects all three of her sons and finally the entire neighborhood. Only one troubled boy stands hesitantly between Meg and Susan and their cruel, torturous deaths.

American Psycho

Patrick Bateman moves among the young and trendy in 1980s Manhattan. Young, handsome, and well educated, Bateman earns his fortune on Wall Street by day while spending his nights in ways we cannot begin to fathom. Expressing his true self through torture and murder, Bateman prefigures an apocalyptic horror that no society could bear to confront.

Deviant: The Shocking True Story of Ed Gein, the Original "Psycho"

From "America's principal chronicler of its greatest psychopathic killers" (Boston Book Review) comes the definitive account of Ed Gein, a mild-mannered Wisconsin farmhand who stunned an unsuspecting nation - and redefined the meaning of the word psycho.

Publisher's Summary

"Begins here first account of operative me, agent number 67, on arrival Midwestern American airport....Code name: Operation Havoc." Thus speaks Pygmy, one of a handful of young adults from a totalitarian state sent to the U.S. disguised as exchange students to live with typical American families and blend in, all the while planning an unspecified attack of massive terrorism. Palahniuk depicts Midwestern life through the eyes of this thoroughly indoctrinated little killer, who hates us with a passion, in this cunning double-edged satire of an American xenophobia that might, in fact, be completely justified.

The first thing everyone has to say about Pygmy has to do with, of course, the broken English. It is extremely hard to get used to. It took me three times to get rolling, but once I settled in to the cadence of the work, I rather liked the writing style. I found that he created some astonishing word combinations that made me laugh out loud, and think very hard on how we, as Americans, must look to outsiders.

Now- that's out of the way. Please read the following text delicately, as you COULD construe this to be a spoiler, though I'll give no plot details at all.

I've read all of Palahniuk's books. I began with Haunted, and ended with Fight Club. I've read Survivor three times, and never loses its punch for me. Consequently, when CP puts out a new book, I have come to expect a certain thing. I don't go to Chuck's well to walk away refreshed and joyous. I read Chuck's work in an effort to turn myself inside out with every page. This novel, rape and United Nations notwithstanding, is the feel-good book of the year.

Let us just say that, if you are looking for that ending that leaves you hollow and sick and alone in the world- this is MOST ASSUREDLY not it. And if you're looking for the characteristic gore and horror in his writings, you won't find it here.

You will find plenty of admonitions against the evils of America, and far more directed toward the church. But really- is that so hard these days? That seems too banal at this point- too simple. I can get all that from The Daily Show, though admittedly John Stewart isn't as funny as Pygmy.

Palahniuk remains my second favorite author today. He is always thought provoking and witty, and always challenges the reader. Unfortunately, this time, I felt far too much a member of Team Cedar, when I really wanted to be closer to Agent 67.

While Chuck's books usually have the flaw that they start out strong and end kind of weak, and I was fully expecting that, it was a very solid work. The main character speaks a pigeon English, which may turn off some, but it's easy to get used to.

Yes, this book is filled with some horrifying scenes, like a rape scene, but even that has a purpose based on Pygmy's past training in flashbacks. If you can stomach that early scene, then you'll appreciate Pygmy's take on spelling bees, school dances, school science projects, church, Thanksgiving and various other American rituals.

There's even Pygmy's take on the model United Nations, in which he's the U.S. delegate, who apologizes for our past crimes and demands all current and past leaders be executed.

The cover blurb bills this an over-the-top, edgy satire, which is what I look for from Chuck P. However, the actual novel is more of a juvenile farce, as though the author went on a South Park binge, then wrote it.

It starts off promisingly, narrated in ludicrously mangled English by an insane caricature of an agent from some imaginary North Korea-like country. The agent, who refers to himself as “Operative Me”, has somehow been placed as an exchange student with a cardboard caricature of an American family (known as “Cow Father”, “Chicken Mother”, “Pig-dog Brother”, and “Cat Sister”). His mission, like his fellow agents’, is to wreak havoc on American capitalist devils with an insidious science fair project and to “impregnate fertile American ova with Operative Me seed utilizing bam-bam-quick pumping rabbit maneuver.” Yes. And, yes, that’s how he talks -- listen to a clip of the audiobook.

Being a Palahniuk book, it contains a few trenchant observations, such as when the protagonist notes that American high schools seem to be good for little more than brain-wasting fluff classes and useless mating rituals, with social failure being the main incentive for actual knowledge pursuit. Mostly, though, the clumsy, unbelievable plot is just an excuse for bad English humor (featuring phrases and grammar no one would ever use), foreigner-misunderstanding-something-obvious humor, rape humor, vibrator humor, boob humor, dogs-as-food humor, and predictable shots at dumb American teenagers, evangelical Christians, and Wal-Mart. "Satire" is rather generous.

Still, Operative Me’s voice often made me laugh. He addresses an old lady at church (“religious propaganda distribution outlet”) with titles like “venerated living skeleton” and “revered still-animated corpse”. Taking a page from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Il, he ticks off a well-informed listing of America’s national blemishes during a model UN debate, then lists insane suggestions about how to atone for these misdeeds, such as “offering beloved children to serve as sexual chattel slaves to noble third worlders”.

I probably would have loved a book like this as a teenager, but there’s not enough brilliant craziness to really get it off the ground for the adult me. Mostly, it’s just puerile. If you’re a fan of the author and/or are a young male, consider checking it out from the library. Otherwise, don’t bother. 2.5 stars.

Gotta tell you, it was a bit hard to get into this book. However, once you begin to follow the story and put together the dialogue, this book will not disappoint. I found myself laughing out loud during many parts. Character development is fairly rich and some of the concepts about the differences of cultures are extremely insightful.

One of Palahniuk's best. Once you get used to the language, the story is compelling, smart, and at times, laugh out loud funny. Palahniuk is definitely my favorite writer of contemporary fiction. Also, the narration was spot on. Excellet job all around.

Chuck Palahniuk isn't for everyone and just because you watched Fight Club on DVD in the comfort of your Boca Raton condo doesn't mean that you are going to like the book... and even if you "liked" Fight Club, you still might be shocked and horrified by the reality or unreality of Palahniuk's imagination. Pygmy is an amazing piece of writing and Paul Garcia's narration in this audio version is nothing short of brilliant. This is some of the most complex linguistic goop I have ever read and listened to. If you think you like Palahniuk's writing then definitely give this audio book version a listen because it is amazing.

If English inst your first languish this book can be hard to swallow.
Hell if English is your first languish you might have a hard time understanding the story.

When i was listening to the story i found that i had very little mental wiggle room to try and figure out the plot before hand, and predict etc. etc.
But! with this! you have to remain focused on the story, the parts where Quotes and Extras are talking "normally" Are sort of rest bits :D

GET THIS BOOK FOR A GREAT STORY AND A CHALLENGE!
AND CHARACTERS YOU'LL NEVER FORGET!

At first, I thought, "oh good", a story told in the flavor of "All Things Illuninated", with a new twist on the English Language. However, this author goes a bit too far, making the story telling a bit like reading a foreign language with a dictionary in hand. Every sentence needs translated. The violence and hateful thoughts are also not pleasant. The description of some of the weakest parts of being human (not just American) are thought-provoking, but I found myself either angry or bored through much of the book. I did not laugh out loud, and wondered about those that did.